A Titan's Christmas
by P.F. Chan
Summary: The Titan's are holidaying? Who's that blonde haired girl sitting in front of the fireplace? What is the Villain Reunion of Evil? Who's a better Cyborg, Cyborg or Gizmo? Starfire and Jinx are friends? And who is Nexus? That's a lot of questions to answer in a single chapter but I'll do my best.


Chapter 1

His breath was coloured grey as it fell from his mouth, passing the shape of his pointed fangs. The smoke fell down the front of his midnight hoody, half of the cloud caught by the excess cloth that bunched up to just below his jaw line. The free smoke fell past his grey gloves, the oversized cuffs sitting over the ends of the hoodies sleeves, and ran down the skinny shape of his tight black jeans. Padded footprints, pressed into the newly fallen snow, followed him to where the snow was only a dusting over stony cobblestone. He pulled at the polished handle of the glass door of the lodge and entered into its warm embrace. The chunks of snow that stuck to the sole of his high topped trainers began a rapid melting as they met the warm lodge air, darkening spots on the red rug that led to the main desk. The main desk, a dark mahogany colour that wrapped itself around the attendant on the inside, sat in front of a large window that comfortably sprawled itself across the entire wall, its spotless transparency looking out to the white ski slopes. A fireplace of brick protruded from the right hand wall, the crackling flames open to the sunlit lodge. Sitting in front of the fireplace, warming its black leather, sat a couch flanked by two arm chairs to either of its broad arms. The feet of the wood trimmed furniture sunk its curled toes into the square rug beneath it, the fabric adorned with an intricate design of elegant interconnected swirls amongst a dark background who's boarders boasted a light tan, the same colour as the lodge walls. The left hand wall hosted furniture similar to the right, the arm chairs huddled around low sitting coffee tables all neatly dressed in magazines depicting pictures of snow covered lodges similar to this one. Several hallways broke into the left wall, marching themselves past an endless menagerie of faux wooden doors. The beamed ceiling of the lodge rose far above the heads of its, absent, partakers of snowy holidaying. Absent, that is, except for a teenage girl. Her brown leather gloved hands were extended towards the fire, struggling to grasp its warmth. The sleeves of the girl's army green parka sat over the oversized cuffs of her gloves. The furry white innards of her unzipped jacket was visible as she bent over to get closer to the fire, her silky blonde hair slipping over her left shoulder. Her black rimmed, blue lensed goggles sat limp against her skin-tight dark grey t-shirt, the shirt leaving the light grey stomach of her under-shirt exposed. Her super skinny black jeans ran down her long legs, tucking themselves into her grey boots.

"Terra?" he asked, stopping to stare at the girl, a mix of excitement and surprise pasted on his green face.

She looked up, her dark blue eyes catching his green.

"Hey Beast Boy." Terra said, a white smile spreading across her face.

"Terra!"

Beast Boy ran towards her, the soles of his feet squeaking against the dark wooden floors, and wrapped his arms around her. His nose brushed past her hair, the scent of lillies filling his nostrils. He tightened his squeeze at the familiar smell.

Terra smiled and laughed, matching her friends embrace "Missed you too."

At these words Beast Boy melted, sliding from between Terra's arms and laying in a limp puddle on the floor.

Terra laughed at his reaction, the same humorous over-dramatics that she remembered him doing in the tower.

Beast Boy looked up at Terra from his puddly state on the floor and jumped to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with the same excitement.

"Holidaying." Terra replied, habitually running her hands through the right side of her hair.

"Same with us." Beast Boy exclaimed with unfaltering excitement.

"Really?" Terra looked around Beast Boy to the letterman clad Robin, who had just entered "Robin?"

Robin crossed his arms over the red R on his chest, sourly "I don't vacation."

"Yeah, Rob's still getting' over it." Cyborg stepped out from behind Robin, dropping the four bags clutched under his powerful arms.

"Cyborg, wassup." Terra and Cyborg's fist collided in their time honoured traditional handshake.

Starfire was the next to make her presence known, in the way she usually did when she got excited. She loosened the grip she had had on the handles of her bags, sending them all earth bound, and flew over to Terra, embracing her with a hug...er tackle.

"Friend it is you. You are here." Starfire exclaimed excitedly, squeezing her blue faced friend even harder.

"H-hey Starfire." Terra managed "Boy I missed the bruises."

"You are doing the holidaying as well?" Starfire asked, not loosening her grip.

"Y-yeah." Terra said through crushed rib cage.

Finally, Starfire released her friend and stood near the others, leaving only one last Titan to enter. The purple hooded Raven strolled through the lodge doors, a black aura pushing the door handles. In front of her face, supported by the same black aura, floated a book that marked a clear territory between possible conversations and Raven.

"Raven!" Terra exclaimed, suppressing the urge to wave at her.

Raven looked over the top edge of her book, her indigo eyes meeting Terra's blue. Her clear barrier flew into the air and hit one of the ceiling beams, sending a resounding boom through the lodge.

"So that means you're excited to see me." Terra asked, in a sarcastic hope.

"I don't do excited." Raven repeated her reply for most things, emphasizing the one word that changed...what she didn't do.

"Oh." Terra gave an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I'm excited to see your, Terra." Beast Boy reassured her "Raven's just being grumpy."

"Kinda like Robin." Cyborg added, looking back to their gelled hair leader who had taken a seat on the couch, where he continued to pout and cross his arms.

From behind Cyborg a mechanical clacking of many legs sounded, followed by a familiar nasally voice.

"Hey, Robo Wimp, get outta my way."

Cyborg turned around and looked up at the four foot tall boy, suspended high above the ground by four mechanical legs that sprouted from the metal bag on his back. A cable ran from the boy's bag to a controller trapped between his hands, his thumbs jockeying the thumb sticks. The green glow of the controller matched the green glow of the device that was sewn into the chest of his green jumpsuit. His lenses of his goggles, which usually adorned his otherwise bald head, also matched the green glow, the goggles now hiding his malicious white eyes from view.

"W-what are you doing here?" Cyborg asked outraged, his arch-enemy standing only a foot away from him.

"What's wrong Cybooger," Gizmo's spider legs dropped him closer to Cyborg's face "Never heard of the secret villain reunion of evil..."

A pink aura covered Gizmo's goggles and pulled them down over his mouth.

"Gizmo, you loud-mouthed idiot." the second member of Gizmo's team's voice sounded, her tone a mellifluous monotone.

Her bright pink hair, gelled into devil horn like shapes that slanted out at their tips, appeared beside Gizmo. Her cat like pupils stood vertically amongst the bright pink colour of her eyes, the same shade as her hair. Her skin was the only thing paler than Raven's and the purple of her outfit only two shades darker than Raven's indigo. The purple jewel of her black choker dangled just above her mini purple poncho, the shoulders of her purplish black dress hidden by the small piece of fabric. Her dress came to a stop at mid-thigh, her purple and black striped tights finding their way down her long legs to her black boots.

"What?" Gizmo asked after he managed to get the goggles to the top of his head.

"How can it be a secret if you tell them?" Jinx asked, turning her head to give a sideways glance at Gizmo.

Robin jumped off of the couch and started towards Jinx.

"What is the villain reunion of..."

Mammoth, the third member of Gizmo and Jinx's team, placed his large frame between Robin and Jinx. Mammoth looked down his brown goatee at Robin and chuckled, crossing his enormous arms.

Beast Boy jumped to Robin's side and morphed into a green gorilla. He pushed his green forehead, lines of anger running across its length, against Mammoths and flared his nostrils, baring his white k-9's. Mammoth matched Beast Boy's scowl with a smile, his eyes taking on a violent glint.

Jinx stepped around the boys and addressed Robin,

"Us villians take a weekend away from evil so that we can brag about what we did over the year."

"Which means..." Robin mumbled to himself.

"Slade never shows up, Hedgehog Brains." Gizmo said, rising over the heads of them all.

"What?" Robin asked, rhetorically.

"Slade refuses to holiday." Jinx supplied "He's not as free spirited as we are."

"Yeah, reminds me of you, Snot Licker." Gizmo sunk lower and got into Robin's face, just like he had with Cyborg.

Robin's face contorted into an angry scowl as the muscles in his arm tensed, his hands working themselves into and out of fists. With blinding speed, Robin kicked the nearest of Gizmo's spider legs. The sole of Robin's foot passed through the thin metal of the spider's shin and split it in half, sending white sparks in all directions and sending Gizmo plummeting towards the earth.

"What the..." Gizmo's words were cut off by a hand gripping his throat.

Mammoth moved to grab Robin by the shoulder but was stopped by a green serpent winding its way around his forearm. He grabbed for it with his massive hand but caught nothing but his hairy arm. Beast Boy wrapped his tail around the grabbing wrist and wrapped the rest of himself around Mammoth's neck. Beast Boy tensed all of the muscles in his lengthy body, forcing Mammoth's fist towards his goateed face. The fist landed on the bridge of his nose, causing a steady stream of blood to run from its nostrils.

Terra's eyes glowed yellow as three pebbles floated from her parka's pockets. They orbited her open palm, surrounded by the yellow aura that had taken residence in her eyes. Jinx looked at her and tilted her head. The pebbles propelled themselves towards Jinx, a yellow comet's tail trailing them. Jinx slid her hand across the front of herself, as if she was stroking a wall, a trail of pink aura following her hands movement. The pebbles struck the shield, the pink aura shattering like glass, and fell dead at her feet.

Raven looked over the edge of her book and then back down to the letters on the page, resigning to the warmed leather of the couch.

"Please, friends. There is no need for this fighting." Starfire attempted to no avail.

"Friends." Starfire attempted again, to the same effect.

After a minute of more useless attempts by Starfire, Raven re-evaluated the situation. The noise was quite disturbing for a reading environment and Starfire looked as if she was on the brink of crying...again.

Raven closed her book, got to her feet, and extended her palm.

A visible black wall of aura formed between the two groups, physically separating them.

"Starfire's right. We're both on this stupid holiday trip whether we like it or not, fighting isn't going to change anything." Raven said, dispassionately.

"Uhh, dude. They're the bad guys." Beast Boy pointed out "We fight bad guys."

Jinx jumped atop Mammoth's shoulder and looked over the black wall.

"We're not doing anything bad right now." she said.

Beast Boy looked up at her, scowling. She placed her elbows on the wall and place her head in her cupped hands, tilting her head to the right.

"B, they really aren't." Cyborg whispered over to Beast Boy as his and Jinx's staring competition continued.

Beast Boy morphed back into a snake and slithered to Terra's side, turning back into human form as he reached her.

"I still don't trust them." he said, continuing his glare.

"The same goes here, Snot..." Gizmo's goggles slid back over his mouth, for some magical reason.

"We don't have to trust each other to not fight." Jinx said as the black wall disappeared. She resorted to sitting on Mammoth's shoulder.

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked to Robin for the final decision on the matter.

Robin gave a scowl and answered "Villains are villains, heroes are heroes. We're as different as night and day, and that's how it should always be. They commit crimes and we stop them." Robin walked back to the couch and sat down.

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at each other and then to Starfire for a second motion. Starfire looked back to Robin, pouting as before, and then to Jinx.

She took a breath and closed her eyes "On my planet, it is a custom for even enemies to make merry together while celebrating the winter seasons." she started slowly.

Jinx tilted her head in curiosity.

"I believe it is a custom on your planet as well...friend." Starfire opened her eyes and looked at Jinx.

"So a truce? Just for the holidays?" Jinx asked, trying to make sense of what Starfire could be up to.

Starfire nodded with a hopeful smile.

Jinx examined her for a moment longer but no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't find anything but a true extension of friendship.

"O-ok...friend." the final word was foreign on Jinx's lips, and foreign to the ears of her teammates.

Jinx extended her hand.

Starfire rushed forward and embraced Jinx with a bone breaking hug.

"Then we are bonded by Blordar Blincorps, the bonds of celebratory friendship." she said as she squeezed harder.

Jinx looked around to the others but neither of her teammates had any advice to give on how she was meant to react, they only stared at her in confusion.

Cyborg and Gizmo looked at each other, Gizmo now having to look up to Cyborg.

"Well I guess we got to get along, Shrimp Roll." Cyborg said, squatting to Gizmo's eye level.

"No way am I..." a quick glance of Jinx changed the rest of Gizmo's comment into inaudible grumbles.

Cyborg returned to his full height "Without your spider pack, I bet you can't beat me to the rental shack." he said, eyeballing the glass door that led to the ski slopes.

"See you there, Snot for Brains." Gizmo backpack grew two rockets at its sides that blasted him towards the door, a heavy cloud of grey smoke following him.

"You little..." Cyborg chased after him.

It was now Beast Boy's turn to make peace with Mammoth.

"Friends?" Beast Boy asked as he slowly extended his hand towards Mammoth.

Mammoth looked down at it and huffed.

"Little girl." he chuckled.

The hand quickly rerouted itself to run through Beast Boys hair as he turned on his heels.

"Well I tried."

He walked back to Terra's side.

"So Terra." he said, rubbing the back of his neck "You wanna go get a soda...or something." he stumbled over each word.

"Sure." Terra smiled "Let me put my stuff in my room and we can go."

"Cool." Beast Boy said, relieved that she didn't say no.

"Would you like to accompany Robin and I in the drinking of caffeinated beverages?" Starfire asked Jinx, who had just been released from her grip.

"Sure." Jinx shrugged.

"No." Robin said from the couch.

Starfire looked over to him.

"Perhaps the making of snowy angels." Starfire suggested.

"No." Robin repeated from the couch.

"We could journey from the top of the snow covered hill to the bottom while riding upon thin pieces of wood."

"No"

"Perhaps the construction of a hut made out of..."

"No"

"You know Robin, wouldn't it be easier to watch us if we were with you?" Jinx asked.

Robin looked over to them and scowled at Jinx, returning to his pouting

"Fine." he said in the same pouty tone "We'll go get coffee."

"Wonderful. We shall share stories of past winter celebration experiences. I have the most enjoyable story of the time when my father pretended to be a Rorfian Zopgar." Starfire clapped with excitement.

Mammoth, Jinx, Starfire, and a reluctant Robin left the lobby through the glass door tucked away in the far right corner of the room, the same door where Gizmo and Cyborg made their hasty exit. This left Raven completely alone in the lobby, completely alone except for the one attendant behind the mahogany desk who did not seem effected by the chaos that had just ensued.

Raven looked up from her book, which had supplanted itself in front of her face again after the fighting had stopped, and looked around. The bags which Cyborg and Starfire brought in were thrown haphazardly in the general vicinity of the couch, five in total. But this meant that Raven was entitled to put the Titan's belongings in their rooms...seeing as she was the only one who could.

Raven got off of the couch and looked back down at her book, her black aura enveloping the five bags and raising them off of the ground. She made her way to the front desk, her white fringed cloak trailing behind her and the bags trailing behind that. The bottom edge of her indigo coat was also fringed with the white fur, a warmer alternative than her usual outfit.

"Reservation for Teen Titans." Raven's monotone sounded from behind her book.

"Your party of five have reserved two rooms. Both are Diamond Suites; Two Bedrooms, Full Bathrooms, Private Hot Tub, direct access to room service, and a beautiful view of the resort." the attendant lady said in an overly cheery tone, a smile to match "Your room numbers are 623 and 601, would you like me to call an attendant to show you to your rooms."

"No." Raven answered, her tone even darker in comparison to the attendant.

"Would you like me to take your bags and have an attendant place them in your rooms for you?"

"Yes." Raven dropped the boy's bags onto the mahogany desk.

"Which room would you like these in?"

"601."

The attendant slid the bags off of the mahogany desk and put them onto a golden barred trolley.

"Would you like the 623 room key?"

"Yes."

The attendant produced a golden card with the words Cadernen Resort running along the side in a darker gold.

"Thank You." Raven said taking the card and walking away towards the hallways on the left side of the room. Starfire and Raven's bags followed obediently after her.

The agreement for the rooms was that the girls would get one and the boys would get another. Each of the rooms, as the attendant women said had two separate bedrooms which was fine for the girls but seeing as the boys had three it would cause some kind of argument...especially since Cyborg refused to bunk with Beast Boy several times on the trip up the mountain, as well as constantly while the trip was being planned. His arguments were sound, that Beast Boy lost everything he touched, that he was unsanitary and that green was the colour of mold...well the last one was correct but didn't really have anything to do with the argument. Still Robin only reserved two suites; one, because three suites meant that either Beast Boy or Cyborg would get two rooms to themselves and because the suites had living rooms, which would be enough seperation for Beast Boy and Cyborg...in Robin's logic.

A pair of familiar laughs pulled Raven from her train of thought and was just enough to pull her stare away from her book, for yet another interruption.

Four doors away from her was Terra and Beast Boy meandering their way towards her...er down the hallway. Raven quickly looked down and locked eyes with the text in her book, hoping more than anything that they had not seen her but...

"Hey Raven."

Unless Terra was greeting another Raven, she had failed to go unseen.

Raven looked over the top of her book "Hello." she locked eyes with the text again and started to walk forward.

"Your not hanging out with Star and Rob?" Terra persisted further.

Raven looked over the top of her book again.

"No." she replied, dully.

Again Raven attempted to steal away.

"You wanna hang out with us?" Terra asked, quick to offer the invitation.

Beast Boy looked to Terra, a mix of surprise and worry pasted on his face...surprise that Terra asked and worry that Raven would say yes.

Raven noticed Beast Boy's glance, even though the emotions only flashed onto his face for a moment. She wanted to say yes, wanted to catch up with her friend, wanted to not be so alone but she knew what a third wheel was and Beast Boy wanted to spend time with Terra a lot more than she did.

"No." Raven shook her head, convincingly.

"Oh...o-ok." Terra rubbed the back of her neck again "See you later Rave."

"Yeah..." Raven looked down at her feet "See you." she started down the hallway again, leaving Terra and Beast Boy alone just like it was meant to be.

Holidays.

Chapter 2

Raven and Starfire's suite actually occupied two floors, the second floor containing Raven and Starfire's rooms and the main floor holding everything else. Actually, a second floor would be a slight exaggeration. The second floor was really a glass walkway running in front of Raven and Starfire's bedroom doors. So, naturally, the main floor had a very high ceiling, the white of the mountain coming in through the large glass windows that led to their porch. The light from the windows reflected and refracted off of the modern furnitures of the living room, colours of polished black and white. The hot tub that the attendant mentioned sat on the porch, moreover sat inside the concrete of the porch, the steam that rose from the warm water dancing and writhing into the cool resort air.

Raven sat cross legged on the floor of her room, eyes closed. The automated tint of the window did its best to blot out the light but, compared to the near pitch black room she was used to, it was still too bright. Still she did her best to suppress her emotions, but for some reason these emotions were taking a longer time to settle than her usual.

"First to the bottom of the hill wins, Snot..." Gizmo started, his words floating amongst the smoke of his breath. The snow beat against his goggles, small flakes pasting themselves on the glass. His feet sat nimbly atop the white powder of the 'hill', his body weight not enough to sink him.

Before Gizmo could finish Cyborg started down the hill, the blue veins of his modified snowboard emanating with a radiant blue glow.

"What the..." Gizmo pressed a button on the panel on his chest, two jet's appearing at either side of his pack. He jumped into the air and raced after Cyborg, who's line was freshly painted amongst the white canvas. Truly then it would be a race to remember, the falling snow lowering visibility to even the technologically advanced. Both Gizmo and Cyborg would have to dodge between pine trees, of the standing and sleeping variety. Both would have to mind cliff drops and stony veins of exposed mountain. Truly then it would be a race to remember.

"The making of snowy angels is quite fun, do you not agree friends?" Starfire asked, as she hovered above her snow angel...that sat next to the other hundred that littered the open field.

"Yeah." Jinx looked down at her snow angel, her devilish hair a very distinct indicator that it was indeed hers.

"Right Robin?" she looked over to the, still pouting, Robin.

Robin narrowed his eyes at her and recrossed his arms, also for around the 100th...million time "No."

Jinx smiled and tilted her head, her eyes looking more and more cat like as she stared. As she blinked the branch, that supported a bow full of snow, snapped and released its payload onto Robin's head. The snow which didn't bunch up in Robin's hair slid off of his face and down the front of his letterman, causing a shiver to resound through his body.

Mammoth gave a low chuckle from deep in his throat, his massive arms crossed in front of his chest as he stood next to Jinx.

Just at that moment, a white snowball planted itself between the eyes of the giant, sticking.

Jinx looked to her friend and traced the ball...all the way back to Robin, who was bouncing another snowball in his hand.

"A fighting of the balls of snow." Starfire clapped "How wonderful."

Starfire leaned over and scooped up a handful of snow, a ball finding its way to her shoulder. She looked up and met Jinx's smiling face staring back at her, a silent laugh forming across her lips...a friendly laugh.

Starfire returned Jinx's smile and threw a return snowball at her, the ball passing by Jinx and hitting Robin in the R of his jacket.

Robin tossed his snowball into the air and reared back his arm, launching a bird-a-rang at the tiny missile. The bird-a-rang ripped through the ball tearing it into a hail of snowy dust, all falling upon the two, now giggling, girls. The bird-a-rang made its way back to Robin's extended hand, in a very cool manner.

"Mammoth." Jinx said, in a sort of bossy invitation to join them.

Mammoth looked at Robin and then back to Jinx, confusion more than blatantly pasted on his face.

"They're our friends for today."

Another snowball hit Mammoth in the side of the head, this snowball sticking to his person as well.

Mammoth looked over to Robin, a challenging smile spread across the lips of the shorter hero. Mammoth lifted a snow chunk over his head and threw it at Robin, the hunk of snow tumbling clumsily through the air.

Robin reached behind his back, a faint click sounding. From behind Robin's left shoulder a short red stick rose, the same short red stick extending from behind his right hip. Robin smiled and dashed towards the snow block. With a single swift slice Robin struck the snow pile with his bo staff, the chunk of snow breaking into two and falling into the powdery snow behind him. With the back end of the staff Robin tossed one half of the snow chunk into the air, the other half of the snow sent airbourne by the other end of the staff. Robin hit the first half of the snow back towards Mammoth and stuck a small round disk into the back of the second, throwing that back as well.

Mammoth reared back his fist and punched the first block out of the air, completely obliterating it and readied a second punch.

Robin smiled and clicked something behind his back, the disk in the back of the second block exploding and breaking the ball into fine white powder. The powder completely covered Mammoth's front side, including the two protruding pieces of snow.

His hidden face stayed emotionless for a moment and slowly the powder fell from his lips...his smiling lips. He started a low chuckle, that echoed through the entire resort, with the others soon joining him...even Robin.

Beast Boy stood on the outskirts of the snowy meadow, a pair of footprints leading into its snowy middle. Beast Boy's eyes followed the foot prints path as they ran freely, carelessly, to their owner. Terra was standing in the middle of the clearing, looking at the white topped evergreens and the untouched expanse that led to their green cover.

Beast Boy did the same, doing a slow turn around to take in the beauty. As he did this, a small ball of snow hit him in the back, pasting a white spot on the middle of his hoodie. He whirled around and looked to Terra.

She smiled cutely and brushed her hand over the right side of her hair.

Beast Boy jumped into the air and landed a green timber wolf, bounding towards her. She laughed and tossed more snowballs at the massive dog, missing most of the time. Beast Boy closed in further, his feet barely leaving tracks on the white snow as he sped up. Terra turned and ran the other way, looking over her shoulder and smiling again at Beast Boy. Beast Boy made up the final length between them and tackled her, knocking her off her feet and sending them both rolling down the hill together, laughing. Finally they came to a rolling stop, each of their backs painted white by the trail they had just rolled. The human Beast Boy knelt over Terra, his hands sinking into the snow to either side of her head.

"Got you." he smiled, looking down into her blue eyes.

Terra returned his stare with a panting smile. For a long moment she did not reply, her smile slowly fading from her face.

"I guess you did." she said softly, a new, different smile forming across her soft lips.

Beast Boy stared at her for a moment longer and leaned forward, his lips gravitating closer to hers. Her breath was warm, inviting on his lips. They closed their eyes, awaiting the feeling that they so desired...awaiting the touch. The final moment closed until they...

Raven's eyes jerked open, her breath a rapid rhythm of sputtering and panting. She swallowed hard and caught her breath.

"Tea...Tea..Tea." she repeated to herself.

She got up and made a hasty retreat out of her room, down the stairs, out of their suite, and to the nearest place where her leafy craving could be satisfied (and she was guaranteed to not meet with her friends).

Chapter 3

The establishment Raven chose was the cafe farthest from the lodge, well it was called a cafe but it resembled more of a bar. It was windowless, the lighting a murky darkness. The wood used for the bar, the tables, the chairs, and the cafe itself stole what little light the cafe could hold, leaving it even more dimly lit. The patrons of the cafe went as far as to cringe as the door opened and Raven entered, the sunlit snow piercing the darkness.

Raven took a seat at the bar, her hood hiding her face from view.

The bartender...er baresta...walked over to Raven, absent-mindedly cleaning a mug with a white rag.

"What can I get ya, darling?" the bartender's voice was of an era far before the current and his white hair matched, a striking resemblance to what was cool...in the fifties.

"Herbal Tea." Raven whispered, still looking down at her feet.

The bartender chuckled, a deep hardy chuckle, "Sweetheart, you're in the wrong place for herbal tea."

"Yeah...I know." Raven's tone became even more inaudible than before as she dropped her head down further.

"Tell you what, sweetie." the bartender started, putting the mug under the bar "I have a few tea bags in the back, it might not be herbal but..."

"Thank You." Raven interrupted, genuine appreciation in her voice...hidden behind the apathy.

"No problem, Sweetheart." the bartender smiled and walked away.

"Coffee, Black." A man took the seat next to Raven, his voice a mellifluous calm.

The snow was just beginning to melt from the man's metal shoulder pads, and from the metal on his forearm guards, and from the metal on his thigh and shin guards...and from the metal of the man's mask, only the orange side visible to Raven.

"Slade?" Raven asked, looking up from her self-loathing for a moment.

The eye on the orange side of Slade's mask turned and looked at Raven.

"Ahh. Young Ms. Raven." he turned to face Raven.

"What are you doing here?" Raven asked, looking up from her feet and turning to face him.

"Don't ask." Slade warned slowly in his mellifluous calm.

"The Villain Reunion of Evil."

Slade sighed, "You're about as disobedient as my young Robin." he turned back towards the bar "Where is he anyway?"

"Starfire." Raven replied, turning back towards the bar as well.

"Really." Slade pulled a device from his pocket, a large red button sitting below the screen.

A black aura surrounded the device and crushed it, the broken pieces sliding through Slade's gloved fingers.

"I'm sorry." Slade refolded his hands on the bar "Old habits die hard."

"I think Robin might be grateful if you did."

"Young Love." Slade said, sarcastically "So precious."

"Wouldn't know." Raven replied dully.

Slade looked over to her, "Depression for a girl who's powers are controlled by emotion is a bad idea." he advised.

"I don't do depressed."

"Denial is a bad idea as well."

Raven looked at Slade, her eyes half-mast and holding a, now, forced apathy.

Slade smiled behind his mask, seeing through Raven's disguise

"Remember this, young Ms. Raven. Wherever a shadow is found, light is nearby."

With this Slade got up and walked out of the bar.

"Black Coffee" a waitress repeated, holding Slade's coffee "Where'd he go?" she looked around for Slade and shrugged, putting the coffee down on the bar and going to tend to the other customers.

"Here's your tea." the bartender placed a tea cup and cracked saucer in front of Raven with a smile.

"Thank you." Raven replied, her black aura surrounding both the tea cup and saucer and lifting them from the bar.

"No problem, sweetheart." he smiled and walked away.

Raven sipped from her cup, her emotions slowly settling themselves as the smell of the leafy concoction brushed past her nose.

As she was enjoying the smell of her tea a boy sat down next to her...er took the seat next to hers. The boy was around her age, 16, with pitch black hair that spiked out at the back and laid flat and parted in the front. The boy's skin was almost as pale as Raven's, even paler against his black hair. The zipper of the boy's oversized green parka was half undone, showing the orange innards of the jacket as well as the blue and yellow of the boy's long sleeve shirt.

The boy gripped, what was meant to be, Slade's mug and took a sip, his black eyes dashing over to Raven. Raven's eyes dropped down to her feet in response, avoiding his gaze.

"Nice Cloak." the boy complimented, what could have been sarcasm riddling his tone.

The boy's voice was smooth and calm, almost bored in a way.

Raven looked up at the boy, avoiding his eyes, then back to her tea.

"Are your eyes the same colour as your hair?" the boy asked, bending his neck to get a better look at Raven's face.

Raven looked up from her tea once again and, this time, met the boy's gaze. His stare alone was powerful...for some odd reason.

"Yes." she said dully, slipping her hood off of her head.

The boy took a moment to examine her face and then nodded, "They're pretty."

"Thanks." Raven replied refraining from blushing with all her power, a weird churning in her stomach.

The boy took another sip from his coffee mug "I'm Nexus." he looked over at Raven again.

"Raven." she replied, another blush almost breaking free.

Nexus smiled, making Raven's stomach churn again, "Pleasure."

They're eyes met once more but this time his stare was not overpowering, this time it was soft and mysterious... This time they stared for a long, frozen, moment.


End file.
